For Central Asia fanatics only

From Sir Terence Clark: a photo of Chini Bagh, the old British consulate in Kashgar, home at one time to Eric and Diana Shipton (who both wrote excellent books set there) and George Macartney, way station to Paul Nazaroff as he fled the Bolsheviks, famed in story and still standing, a monument to climbers and …

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Raptors and Pigeons

Tim Gallagher points to this BBC video of Golden Eagles hunting reindeer, and reminds me that a link to my piece on Darwin’s pigeons is up at Living Bird. Meanwhile MaryBeth Rogers sends this link to paragliding with eagles (well, mostly vultures, but it still looks like fun!) An unfortunate Golden eagle was taken from …

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Science Links

A BBC news article seems to point to the “Overkill Hypothesis” as the major cause of the extinction of the American megafauna. Studies of dung preserved in a Wisconsin lake suggest “… a slow decline in megafauna that began about 15,000 years ago and appeared to last for about 1,000 years. “This discovery rules out …

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Back!

A couple of weeks ago my mouse and keyboard failed. When I replaced them I realized I needed to update the software. Our Mac guy in Socorro installed all that but then decided to clean its gritty interior.Bad idea– when he put it back together it refused to start. He sent it to a Mac …

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Ear notches

I am surprised at how many mule deer I see with notched ears, including this young buck Jim and I encountered today. Theories anyone?I love seeing mule deer at this time of year. The does look so absolutely feminine, and the swollen-necked bucks so masculine.

Five weeks

My warped husband has decided to name Vega’s three livestock guardian dog pups after his siblings, Bill, Mikey and Laurie. This is Laurie visiting with Rena. Rena loves playing with the pups, now that Vega has decided Rena can be trusted with them. Laurie’s big feet and big muzzle are typical guardian dog charateristics. Five …

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Assorted nonsense

Bloomers blowing in the wind? Some people apparently don’t like that. Read about those fighting the good fight – the “right to hang.” Two California cities have voted to ban the declawing of cats. They took this action ahead of start of the new year, when state law forbidding municipalities and counties from regulating veterinary …

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